Jockey: Mario Gutierrez Post Position: 13 out of 20 Morning-Line Odds: 3-1 Race RecordNyquist tops my homemade Derby point matrix in large part due to his as-of-yet unrelentless winning. That's right, Nyquist is undefeated in his 7 starts. His wins include the prestigious Breeders' Cup Juvenile as well as the Best Pal Stakes, Del Mar Futurity, FrontRunner Stakes, San Vicente Stakes, and the Florida Derby. After all those wins, Nyquist's non-restricted stakes earnings now are well over $3 million. As you can see in the Florida Derby race replay, he tends to have a front running style. Also visible in that video is how little jockey Mario Gutierrez has to use his crop, even down the stretch. PedigreeUncle Mo x Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry. As mentioned in my original Part of this hesitancy came from the top line of his pedigree since he's a son of Indian Charlie, who had not been noted as a sire of sires. Furthermore, Indian Charlie's own sire was the relatively obscure and underappreciated In Excess -- who traces back on top to Caro and Nasrullah. These days, if a horse does not hail from the Mr. Prospector or Northern Dancer male lines, there will be skepticism about his chances at stud. Nyquist's pedigree is a great example of this lack of inbreeding. In five generations, the only inbreeding is just two instances of Norther Dancer, one on either side, back in the fifth generation. Uncle Mo's dam's side is not necessarily more or less impressive than his sire's side. Dam Playa Maya, by Arch (whose damsire is Danzig) and out of a Dixieland Band daughter, won 3 out of her 6 starts and placed or showed in the other 3. I really like what Seeking Gabrielle brings to the proverbial pedigree table here: her sire, Forestry, is a son of Storm Cat. Additionally, damsire Seeking the Gold was a fairly successful son of Mr. Prospector, both on the track and in the shed. In 15 starts, he won 8 and placed in 6, amassing over $2.3 million in earnings (equivalent to approximately $4.8 million today when inflation is taken into consideration). At stud, he produced 4 Breeders' Cup champions and his combined progeny have won over $85 million. All in all, I think that Uncle Mo's pedigree, while understated, is clearly very complementary to that of a dam like Seeking Gabrielle. I love seeing horses like Storm Cat on the dam's side in contenders for 10f/mile and a quarter races due to the probability of the X-factor being passed on that way. ConformationIt's hard to say for sure, but my guess is that this picture is of Nyquist as a yearling at a Fasig Tipton sale. That would explain how butt-high he is here, as that is relatively typical for a growing yearling. So when you look at him to evaluate conformation, keep in mind that he's probably a bit more even now.
Some general notes:
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About Gallant VixenNew lawyer with a degree in equine studies and a penchant for handicapping. Archives
May 2020
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